Last week I caught a soccer game between Liverpool (boo!) and Bolton Wanderers on TV. Bolton, a middle of the road club, had just substituted in their newest player, a promising young South Korean named Lee Chung-Yong. Asians playing in top-flight football leagues are quite the rarity, so it was with great interest that I watched Lee Chung-Yong step onto the pitch. Unfortunately, it was with great bewilderment that I heard the play-by-play guy make the following statement as soon as he touched the ball...
Lee Chung-Yong, a new transfer from South Korea... unlikely to bring much brawn to Bolton, but plenty brains...
Err, what..?
I thought I was hearing things, but then I read this just a few days ago from The BOLTON NEWS
CHUNG-YONG Lee might lack the brawn to mix it in the Premier League, but (Bolton Coach) Gary Megson reckons his brains more than make up for it.
“He’s a really brainy player,” the manager said. “He looks like he’s 14 and has got a lot of stature to gain but he’s come on in leaps and bounds in the last four or five weeks and his performance against West Ham was top class.
Yeah, I'm sure all Lee does between games is put on a lab coat and formulate complicated equations for how to get better on the pitch.
This reminds me of how Black UFC fighters, absolutely regardless of their fighting style are invariably described as 'athletic' (IE: Rashad Evans, Josh Koscheck, Melvin Guillard, Anthony Johnson, Jon Jones...), and White fighters (particularly wrestlers from the mid-west) as hard-working, tough...
It also reminded me of an interview with an NBA scout a few years ago, who said he could tell whether a player was Black or White, just from looking at their brief bios. "Athletic, jumping ability, attitude problem" meant Black, whereas "strong fundamentals, good shooter, free spirit" meant White.
Racism has morphed into this weirdly casual thing now, where people might have once flinched at saying or doing things that could be considered racist, they now openly say or do racist things like it was no big deal, i.e. John Mayer "hood pass" remarks or this soccer commentator you mentioned.
You know, I'm sure in his heyday, Wayne Gretzky's small stature and hockey intelligence were mentioned by sports commentators, much to nobody's chagrin. But say the same things about an Asian soccer player, and all of a sudden it's a bigot making casual racist statements? This is even more of a reach than the "racism" LeBron endured for leaving his basketball team, and for all intents and purposes his hometown, in the absolute WORST WAY POSSIBLE.
Your articles seem intent on exposing blatant racism for what it is. Today on Twitter, a trending topic was #thingswhitepeoplesay, and by their profile pictures, it appears most people contributing tweets were not white. There you go. Have at it.
As a Liverpool fan I was offended by your comment... You must be one of those 'brawn over brain' Asians I've read about!